1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electronic device and a method for recognizing an electronic device located in a short range.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic device may communicate with other electronic devices located in a short range. Short-range communication schemes in which an electronic device may communicate with electronic devices include Bluetooth (BT), ZigBee, Wi-Fi, Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and the like.
For short-range communication, each electronic device performs a pairing operation. The pairing operation includes sending, by an electronic device, a short-range communication request message to another electronic device and setting short-range communication upon receiving a response to the request message.
NFC, a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technique, is a non-contact-type communication technique using a frequency band of 13.56 MHz. According to NFC, if electronic devices recognize that they are located in close proximity to each other, they may communicate with each other without having to perform the pairing operation.
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Version 4.0, a low-energy protocol, is a Bluetooth technique for simply and rapidly enabling a connection using a small amount of data. BLE, developed as a low-energy protocol, has been mainly used for sensor-based services, and may be used separately from existing Bluetooth protocols, such as Basic Rate (BR)/Enhanced Data Rate (EDR). In BLE, various profiles of low-energy protocols are defined, such that by using the BLE, a variety of services optimized for various electronic devices may be provided.
Assuming that electronic devices which are to perform short-range communication are located in close proximity to each other, an electronic device including a Bluetooth or BLE module may recognize, by using a received signal, that another electronic device is located in a short range. However, it may be difficult for the electronic device to recognize that another electronic device is located in close proximity thereto.